Which types of vegetation will you find on the way as you travel from Bikaner to Konark by road by shortest distance?

Traveling from Bikaner (Rajasthan) to Konark (Odisha) involves a transition from the arid northwest to the humid east coast. Bikaner is located in the Thar Desert, characterized by desert vegetation including cacti and thorny bushes [4]. Moving southeast through eastern Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, the landscape transitions into tropical thorn forests and scrub, where rainfall is less than 50 cm [1]. As the route progresses through central India (Chhattisgarh and interior Odisha), the vegetation shifts to dry and then moist deciduous forests due to increased rainfall and humidity [3]. Finally, reaching the coastal region of Konark near the Mahanadi delta and Chilika Lake, one encounters coastal vegetation and mangroves [2]. Thus, the sequence follows the gradient of increasing moisture: Desert, Tropical thorny, Moist deciduous, and Mangrove [3].

Sources

1. [2] INDIA PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT, Geography Class XI (NCERT 2025 ed.) > Chapter 5: Natural Vegetation > NATURAL VEGETATION > p. 42
2. [4] INDIA PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT, Geography Class XI (NCERT 2025 ed.) > Chapter 5: Natural Vegetation > Tropical Thorn Forests > p. 44
3. [1] Environment, Shankar IAS Acedemy .(ed 10th) > Chapter 9: Indian Biodiversity Diverse Landscape > r) Peninsular trndia > p. 159
4. [3] Geography of India ,Majid Husain, (McGrawHill 9th ed.) > Chapter 5: Natural Vegetation and National Parks > 4. The Gangetic Plain > p. 5